The Auburn Football Uniform Argument

For as long as I can remember, there have been people out there that have argued that Auburn’s stripes should all match. Personally, I don’t think so. But I’m here to document the argument and show what people are truly wanting.

As we all know, our Auburn Tigers have worn “Northwestern Stripes” since around the 1950s on every aspect of the uniform (being helmet, jersey, and pants). These stripes have been the same in all three areas for the entire time, with just the sizes changing; the ratios stayed the same the entire time. Take a closer look at the stripes to see what people are talking about:

Look at how the stripe goes blue-white-orange-white-blue on both the helmet and shoulders.

Now look at the pants. The stripe goes blue-orange-blue. There are no white “negative space” stripes here, and that really bugs a lot of people. These people will argue that since the helmet and sleeves have the white stripes, so should the pants.

Let’s take a look at LSU for a minute. If you look closely at their uniforms, you’ll notice that they basically have the inverse of Auburn’s stripes. The helmet and shoulder UCLA stripes go purple-white-purple and purple-yellow-purple (on the white uniforms) respectively. But look at the pants. Those stripes, on the yellow pants, go purple-yellow-white-yellow-purple, yet no one complains about these.

So why does Auburn get all the attention on this topic? Personally, I think it is because LSU wears yellow pants while Auburn wears the white pants, and yellow can cover up that “negative space” stripe a bit better. Also, I never really noticed LSU’s striping patterns until I was planning this post…

Back in 2010, when Auburn was preparing to head to Glendale for the National Championship Game, Under Armour was putting together some crazy promotions. UA put out a new commercial starring an Auburn Football player lacing up his new Under Armour cleats for the game. Well, look very closely at the video. You’ll notice that the stripes on the pants had been changed. Here’s a screenshot from the video:

They were now blue-white-orange-white-blue. Many people were up in arms about them changing the uniforms even the slightest for the biggest game in Auburn history. Well, it didn’t stop there. Once everyone got to Glendale and everything was set up for the game weekend, Under Armour had a trailer with their merchandise set up downtown. Outside of the trailer, they had two mannequins set up. This is one picture from then:

If you look closely at the picture above, you’ll notice that the pants match those in the commercial. Oddly enough, the two jerseys are completely different. The #85 jersey matches what was worn on the field for that game, with the SEC logo and then the BCS Championship logo above the Under Armour UA. The #2 jersey matches the retail version, with no SEC logo and the BCS logo in its usual spot.

Why make these two jerseys so different? Why make a game cut version of the wrongly designed retail version? Why make a commercial with something that would never be worn? Same goes for the trailer set up. Why? We may never know. I personally think that Under Armour also believes that the pant stripes should match up. Also, UA has been basically begging on their hands and knees for Auburn to do something different that usual. I think that UA was planning to break out these pants for this game and were determined to do so, and were trying to get them on the field until it came time for the game and Auburn denied them once again. I do know that Auburn higher ups have turned them down every time. I do have some information on a specific instance, but I am not allowed to share that.

The fact that Under Armour is so persistent in their goal of having Auburn do something special, something new, do not be surprised if more things like this come out. Remember that Auburn was Under Armour first marquee university that they signed. Auburn was first in a lot of things, and being a big named team to wear the Maryland-based UA logo was another big, and both parties are very proud of that.

If you like the uniforms just the way they are, and wish Under Armour would quit trying, just be glad that the Board of Trustees and Equipment Manager Dana Marquez have continually turned them down. If you would like to see Auburn try something new, then you know who to blame.

I hope you have enjoyed this feature. Hopefully I can add more off-the-wall type posts like this in the future. Be sure to vote in the poll below after reading all of this!

War Eagle!

+Auburn Athletics